Chola idol was stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu’s Ariyalur district
New Delhi. The process of bringing back the stolen ancient idols and heritage to the country is going on. In this sequence, the idol of Hanuman ji of 14th-15th century Chola period, which was stolen from a temple in Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu, has been brought back.
Theft took place 12 years ago from a temple in Tamil Nadu’s Ariyalur district.
This idol was stolen along with other idols from the temple in April 2012. Meanwhile, it came to know in the year 2014, when this statue was auctioned in an auction house in New York, which was taken by an Australian buyer. According to the Ministry of Culture, as soon as the information about the auction of the statue was received, the efforts to get it immediately were intensified.
The Australian Government was contacted. Along with this, all the proofs related to this were also provided to them. During this, after a long process, the statue was handed back to the High Commissioner of India in Australia in February 2023. It was brought to India only recently. With this, it was again handed over to the Idol Wing of Tamil Nadu as a case property.
Australian buyer says
According to the ministry, this statue was also mentioned in the year 1961 in its document by the French Institute of Pondicherry at that time. According to officials associated with the Archaeological Survey of India, the Australian buyer said that he did not know that it was a stolen statue, otherwise he would not have bought it at all. Efforts to bring back Indian ancient heritage and idols have been going on for a long time
